


The Jack Problem

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-20 19:59:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17628719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "With his new title as the Guardian of Fun, Jack’s life is full of changes, and that includes a change of wardrobe. However, the outfit he picks is super sexy (tight pants, skin showing, etc), and the other Guardians find it a little… distracting. Jack is oblivious and doesn’t understand why Bunnymund won’t look him in the eye, or why Tooth keeps blushing and talking a mile a minute when she sees him. The more awkward encounters the better! Someone (author’s choice) must explain and help Jack pick something a little more appropriate.Bonus if:- Somebody has a crush on Jack and was considering making their move, but seeing him in such an outfit made them lose their nerve.- Pitch is involved somehow."I did neither bonus and the only relationship is hinted-at Christmas Cookie. *Shrugs*As a Guardian, Jack’s become basically invulnerable. And naked. North’s commissioned to tell him to tone it down. Sort of toying with the idea here that the real powers of the Guardians as supernatural beings have been somewhat diminished for their current roles.





	The Jack Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr on 10/30/2013.

“I don’t think he even realizes he’s doing it,” Tooth says to North. They’re walking on one of the many balconies of the Tooth Palace, followed by a few dozen fairies who want to hear more about the “Jack Problem”, though in their united opinions there’s really no problem at all.  
  
“But how could he be doing this by accident?” North asks. “Jack had clothes when he became Guardian. Even unseen he wore very ordinary pants and sweater. Could not be change in power. When I became a Guardian—”  
  
“North.” Toothiana smiles. “Don’t you remember some incarnations of Father Christmas? I do.” Her smile widens, as she recalls North, bluff and bare-chested, in a great fur robe and holly crown.  
  
North blushes a little and smiles back. “That was not quite the same. I was still modest. Mostly. In the way I dressed. I wore what I wore for the symbol of it—but I was still not naked!”  
  
“But that’s the point,” Tooth says. “As Guardians, we’re not vulnerable to anything that we need clothes to protect us from. They’re just there for decoration. And I mean, I’m in my feathers, and Bunny has his fur so we don’t wear any—and so I think Jack’s just forgetting that he should be wearing clothes, given that he still looks so human. You know, technically he hasn’t been naked any of the times we’ve seen him.”  
  
“Swirling snow does not count as clothing.” North isn’t sure what the cheeping of the fairies behind him means, but Tooth turns to look at them sharply.  
  
“Girls!” She exclaims. “Don’t be greedy.” More cheeping. “He’s not going to cover up his teeth! There’s no such thing as clothing for teeth!” She turns back to North. “Sorry.”  
  
“Is all right. So, you want me to talk to him?”  
  
Tooth shrugs and smiles. “Yeah. It’s pretty necessary—and it would be strange if he was doing this on purpose, right? And it has to be you because you know he’d point out the flawed logic if Bunny or I called him out. And I don’t think he’d understand Sandy. I don’t want him to be confused on this point.”  
  
North nods and pats Tooth’s arm. “I will take care of this.”  
  
***  
  
North finds him freezing a small forest lake, one always used for ice skating despite the signs that prohibit it. His bare feet skim the surface and frozen mist flies up around him, mingling with the snow that accompanies him everywhere since he stopped appearing with clothing.  
  
For a moment, North simply watches. The snow and mist half-cover Jack, half-reveal him, letting slender arms, never-broadened shoulders, swaths of smooth back and chest, and pale coltish legs appear and disappear as he moves with power and grace through a crystalline world of his own making. He does not look  _safe_ , not to others, not to himself. North sighs regretfully as he hears Jack laugh.   
  
He remembers it’s been a long time since any of the Guardians have been unbound, and here he is to convince Jack to bind himself. His coat feels leaden on his shoulders as he realizes Jack won’t even know he should protest.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments from Tumblr:
> 
> tejoxys said: I don’t remember if I’ve complimented you on this before, but goddamn, you have a talent for stories that start hilarious and then take a sharp turn into sad. This one’s particularly adorable, and just ugh goddamn, those last lines.


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